


Nocturne

by Thimblerig



Series: The Lion and the Serpent [16]
Category: The Musketeers (2014)
Genre: Awkward Conversations, Gen, Mild Gore, dark themes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-23
Updated: 2016-01-23
Packaged: 2018-05-15 16:55:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5792473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thimblerig/pseuds/Thimblerig
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A conversation with a difficult woman.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nocturne

"I will not apologise," he said, around the gravel in his throat. His boots clunked on cobbles damp from earlier rain and limned silver by the moon overhead. Buildings rose up black around them. 

"So it goes," the woman in his arms said dreamily. "No regrets."

Oh, he regretted. But how could he ask forgiveness? Who would ever grant it? He had a sudden, vivid sense memory of the hard edge of a table under his fingers, the weight of the wood as he upturned it and everything smashed. It was not a thing he had time for now.

"Will you take the shot next time?" Madame asked.

"Dolores -"

"Men hurt their lovers all the time," she said. "Women hurt their lovers. It's the easiest way, when they think you're curled softly in the strength of their arms, helpless."

Aramis' grip tightened.

An ice cold finger trailed down his throat. "Cut here, if you want them to go quick. Here if you want them to feel it."

He nudged her hand back to the pad of cloth at her side. "Keep up the pressure. Only a gash across the ribs, I think, and we are almost home. A little hot water, some elegant stitchery, and Kitty shall disapprove of everything."

" _Pff,_ " she muttered, "save me from my little helpers." He swallowed. "It _hurts_ ," she moaned into his shoulder.

That was a good sign, as it happened. The worst wounds hardly felt of anything.

"It will be her or me, one day," she said. "We are neither of us the type to settle our differences in open brawl. Sudden death from the shadows, a whirlwind in the dark: I know her kind. One night she will not miss." She tried to cough and winced. "I killed her sister. Would you really respect Martinez if she _didn't_ come after me? I would not."

"... Did you have a good reason?"

"I had a pressing reason. It wasn't a nice one."

He turned a corner and saw, at the end of the street, the sunken door that was the back way to their current home, and Kitty, shoulders hunched under the wrappings of her shawl, holding a lantern high.

"When you are well," he said, "I can - I know some reliable knaves in the city. That is, you wouldn't have to -"

She curled icy fingers around his wrist. He thought she meant, _mine_.

"Next time," she said, "I'll go off by myself. You won't know she's dead."

She meant that as a kindness, he knew.

**Author's Note:**

> I've been busy working on other stuff, including a request for Funny, and I'm tired and scratchy and most of The Other Stuff can't be posted yet on account of More Other Stuff needs to be written first and, and, argh. This, dark as it is, is scratching an itch to just post something, dammit. 
> 
> So.
> 
> ++
> 
> Dolores from Venice was always going to be trouble: this story's Mordaunt.
> 
>  _"Women hurt their lovers. It's the easiest way..."_ \- I like Milady, I frequently sympathise with her situation, but let's not forget she's done some pretty unpleasant stuff in her time. Specifically, in the first episode she tells the priest: "I've lain with many men; I've killed some of them." On the other hand, however sketchy this Aramis gets, I don't think he's ever going to be fine with hurting a lover, unless they ask him nicely, I guess. (This is, incidentally, a 180 from book!Aramis' feelings about Mordaunt - but then, he'd known Athos, the threatened party, a very long time; he was older and harder; he didn't have the prior relationship this guy has with Dolores; and Aramis is canonically meaner to dudes.)
> 
>  _"I had a pressing reason. It wasn't a nice reason."_ \- I... think Milady killed Sofia Martinez so she couldn't spill the beans about Rochefort before Milady got paid for the information? Except everybody already _knew_ he was up to no good, what they needed was proof (like the verbal testimony of his assassin). Chalk it up to people behaving erratically in the service of getting an interesting visual I guess. (Actually, Milady spiriting Sofia away as a potential witness could make a fascinating AU some time. Lots of snark, possibly some femslashy hatesex. Hm.)


End file.
